Just Out of Reach
by Simosa2323
Summary: AU Brittany is an up-and-coming job recruiter in New York who swears off any future potential partners, that is until she meets her new client Santana, an art director from LA. Will Brittany find the fairy tale love she is after or get hurt in the pursuit? Loosely based off of Friends with Benefits. Brittana with a side of Quick.
1. Prologue

**Just Out of Reach**

* * *

 **Prologue**

Brittany was certain of many things, especially when it came to human behaviour. What she lacked in general knowledge was completely over shadowed by her ability to read people's body language and emotions. Throughout her life she had been able to read what people were thinking or feeling by a sole movement alone.

Quinn, one of her closest friends from high school, was proof of this. A droop in her right eyebrow and the raise of the other signalled Quinn was in a state of pure rage and Brittany made sure to stay clear when that movement occurred. Puck, a friend from work, also had many tells. The dilation of his pupils informed Brittany that 'Puckasaurus', as he so liked to be called, had found his next victim and was on the prowl.

It was a skill Brittany used to her advantage in her job as an Executive recruiter. She scouted people from across the country and directed them to varied roles in New York, researching their lives and enticing them to move to this new proposed job by her ability to read people and their desires. She had been working for 3 solid years, fresh out of college, and had been able to make a name for herself in the city.

She felt on top of her game; securing two new clients this month and receiving an ample commission would do that to you. This was until she was asked to recruit Santana Lopez from Los Angeles.

Upon first glance Brittany was taken aback by her beauty. Tina, her assistant, had forwarded Miss Lopez's portfolio as a next potential client. Brittany scrolled down the page. Santana was 22, LA born and bred and the art director of SNIX, a small internet company that had seen exponential growth and popularity ever since Santana joined. The blonde was immediately impressed by the women's acclaims and sent both GQ, who contacted her about the need for a role, and Santana an email as to schedule an interview and hopefully secure a third client that month.

Once she had hit send, Brittany glanced at the corner of her monitor and let out a tired breathe as it read 7:00pm. She closed down her computer, collected her things and wished Tina goodnight as she headed towards the elevator. As she began to descend the 125 floors to the city she could not get Santana out of her mind. She pictured her tan, smooth skin and warm brown eyes. Clouded by her imagination, the recruiter almost missed the ding sounding of the doors opening, indicating she had arrived at the ground floor.

The blonde sheepishly walked out of the elevator and out of the building, her pale cheeks turning crimson, something she'd later blame on the cool night air. She plugged in her head phones and began the 5 block trek back to her apartment. A promise she'd made to herself since she started her job as to keep fit since she no longer had time for dancing, another thing Brittany felt second nature to.

As she continued to weave in and out of the crowded streets her mind returned to the brunette she had yet to meet. She was thrilled to meet her, a feeling she had never encountered with previous clients. Brittany found herself captivated by the brunette and desired to meet her. These feelings were quickly belittled by a pang of sadness that rippled through her slender body.

Despite this gift of reading people being a major help in her work life, it was a hindrance to that of her recently non-existent love or sex life. Brittany, blaming it on the many fairy tales her Mother read to her as a kid, was a hopeless romantic and had yet to find someone who fit the bill of her Prince Charming.

Her abilities to read emotions made it very difficult to date; generally leading to anger from her partners who claimed her insight to their behaviour was unnatural and led to many arguments. For example, Claire, her most recent girlfriend, dumped Brittany as the blonde was able to determine whether she was lying by a mere quiver of her upper lip. Claire stated that she no longer had any privacy and left abruptly, leaving the recruiter both sad and lonely.

As she ascended the floors to her apartment and searched for her brightly coloured keys in her bag she shook her head as to clear her mind of her past grievances. She entered her home and tenderly petted Lord Tubbington, a cat whom she shared her apartment with, and headed straight to her bedroom.

She fell on her bed with a resolute sigh. The ever present lights of the city cast shadows across her room. As she gazed out of her wall-size window she made a promise to herself. She vowed to not concern herself with her romanticised dreams of a fairy tale love and focus primarily on her job.

The freshly made linen sheets crinkled and ruffled as she entered her bed and turned off the light. With her alarm set for 6:00 am the next day, the blonde drifted off to a dreamless sleep, accompanied by Lord Tubbington acting as a life-sized heater nestling into her toned mid-section. With one last vacant thought, she couldn't help but feel her promise to herself would be much harder to keep than expected. She forcefully neglected to reason that this would be as a result of a certain brunette she was to meet the following week. Brittany was certain of many things, but this was not one of them.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - Strange Beginnings**

* * *

The unyielding humidity. It was the first thing Santana noticed as she traipsed across JFK airport and, unfortunately, so did her hair. She let out an exasperated breath as she tried to comb through her now frizzed up mess of so called brunette hair. _Could this day be any fucking worse_ , she thought tirelessly as rolled her neck, sore from the flight. The brunette took deep, calming breathes as to keep Snix, her fondly named anger alter ego, in check.

And regrettably it did. Following heated Spanish obscenities with the check out assistant, Santana took heavy steps towards the airports exit, bag-less and fuming. Once at the pick-up area, she looked up in search of her ride. Patting down her pencil skirt as to at least seem professional, she managed to lock eyes on a mass of blonde hair hurtling towards her, who so happened to be carrying a sign with 'LOPEZ' written in thick black ink.

Santana stood fighting a bemused grin, the first since she had arrived, at the tall women who looked both nervous and frantic. Suddenly the woman locked eyes with her and a giant smile broke out on her face. Santana couldn't help but think what beautiful blue eyes she had and her prior quarrels seemed to disappear.

"I'm here! Yes I made it! Damn I need to go to the gym more" spoke the blonde in staggered breaths as she put her head between her knees as to regain the regularity of her heart beat. Santana couldn't help but smirk at the woman; at least it seemed someone was having an equally as bad day as her.

"Er, Miss Pierce I presume?" the brunette asked, attempting to break the silence.

The blonde seemed to snap out of her fatigued state and giggled, causing Santana to blush. "Huh, no one's called me that in a while", a complex expression appeared on the taller woman's face. She shook her head as to regain her thoughts. "Please call me Brittany", she stated, extending her hand in friendly manner, "And please say you're Santana or this whole interaction would have been both pointless and awkward".

The brunette took Brittany's hand and couldn't help but admire its softness. "Right….Brittany….yes I'm Santana, pleasure to meet you" the brunette stuttered disjointedly, _brilliant introduction Santana_ she thought as she rolled her eyes at herself.

"Very formal, what a polite gentle-woman you make" the blonde stated with an innocent smirk, "hopefully GQ will like you as much as I do." Santana thanked god for her tanned complexion as yet another blush flitted across her cheeks as she let go of the blonde's hand.

Brittany suddenly noticed Santana's lack of baggage, "Didn't you bring anything with you?" she said, simultaneously slanting her head in confusion.

"Oh no, well yes but they lost my freaking bag" the brunette responded dejectedly but she couldn't help but see the similarities between Brittany and an excited puppy. Santana found it cute, _ugh cute, when have you ever used that word?_

"Perfect! That will make today a whole lot easier," the blonde stated with enthusiasm, "Follow my lead!" rasped the recruiter as she hastily turned, leaving the brunette in her dust with her mouth hanging open. She couldn't help think what she had gotten herself into but a notion of excitement soon derided any hesitancy as she moved quickly as to catch up with the blonde.

"Right, first thing you need to learn about New York, when people say it's the city that never sleeps, you have to believe them. One night at 3:00am I was able to get my hair done, eat some awesome pizza and get Lord Tubbington his cat shot in the space of 3 blocks!" Brittany stated proudly. The brunette looked quizzically at the blonde, _what's a Lord Tubbington?_ , her thoughts were quickly forgotten when she noticed they'd passed the line of taxi and hire cars.

"Are we not driving?" Santana asked, disrupting Brittany's rant of the best vegan cat produce available.

Another grin emerged on the blondes face, "Second thing, if you live in New York, you travel like a New Yorker." Following this, the blonde once again took off in the direction of the nearest subway. Santana couldn't help but admire both the taller woman's energy and her ass in that pencil skirt. _Real professional_ she thought snidely as she once again rolled her eyes at herself.

Once she had caught up with the blonde, Santana dumbly asked "Shouldn't you be like, helping me with my interview?"

Brittany chuckled slightly, "I've done my research Santana Lopez from Los Angeles, I know you're going to nail that interview, the work you did alone at SNIX is proof of that" she took a breath and stated confidently "My job is to make you take the job, therefore I need to make you fall in love with city."

Santana's ears tinged pink yet again; she had never met anyone who had made her blush as much as she had today. Her earlier reservations for her upcoming interview seemed to melt away as she spent more and more time with the blonde. "If you say so," she stated, "So what do we actually have planned today?"

As they continued to walk across to the subway station entrance, Brittany replied "We are going to follow a strict, 'awesome-packed' itinerary, so no time for delay," with a frantic enthusiasm that the brunette couldn't help but find charming. "That means you better move that fine ass of yours or we'll miss the next train!"

The recruiter then proceeded to hurtle down the subway steps at great pace, leaving Santana in her dust yet again. She couldn't help think what an eventful day this would turn out to be and questioned, _did she just call my ass fine?_

* * *

An abundance of people, and the distinct odour of sweat, made the subway journey very arduous. The brunettes back was being forced into the recruiter's front as more and more people entered the carriage.

Both of the women were trying there hardest not to lean their full weight onto each other as to make less uncomfortable.

Breaking the silence which had fallen between them, Santana asked "So what made you so late this morning you almost took out an old lady entering a taxi?"

The blonde was very thankful that Santana couldn't see her as she blushed, "Oh that, you're probably going to think it's stupid…"

"Try me" the brunette instantly responded over her shoulder.

The blonde hesitated, not wanting to seem stupid or unprofessional in from of client. However, she couldn't deny how comfortable she felt in front of the brunette so quickly mumbled "I set my oven on fire" in a quiet voice.

"Sorry what was that?"

Brittany sighed and started in a louder voice, "I set my oven and kitchen on fire."

Santana couldn't help but snicker, "How in the world did you manage that!?" she stated as she turned to assess the other women's answer.

"Er well me and recipes don't go well together, why should pancakes have to follow a strict law, why can't they be free to decide how they're made and, well, that turned into my kitchen catching fire basically, but Lord Tubbington was fine!" the blonde nervously ranted under the brunettes stare. Half expecting her to laugh in her face, Brittany was very surprised by her response.

"Hmm, that's actually pretty good logic, I Like the way you think," replied the brunette, "but why in the world are you living with a 'Lord'?" she confusedly asked.

The blonde burst out laughing, "No, no that's my cat!

Santana joined in laughing and noticed how pretty the recruiter's laugh was. "Well, that makes a hell of a lot more sense!"

As the women continued to laugh, a jolt in the carriage caused Santana to fall back completely on Brittany. The blonde instinctively put her hands on her waist as to steady her.

"Oh shit sorry" stuttered the brunette, neither noticing the blushes on either girls face.

"It's fine don't worry!" replied Brittany, hastily removing her hands and wondering if the other women felt the same weird tension pass between them.

Brittany coughed to clear her throat and muttered "This is our stop so…" as the subway slowed to a halt.

"Right yes" replied Santana as she exited the carriage, shaking her head as to rid the tension, _for fuck sake you've got an interview, get your head in the game,_ she thought with a scolding manner.

Little did she know the feeling was mutual.


End file.
